Hi DU, as some of you know I am in hospital.

[csziggy]

156. The new procedure is TAVR - TransArterial Valve Replacement. If you can get it - do it.

I got one in 2017. It is not invasive and since they don't crack your chest open, usually you can be out of the hospital the next day.

I was actually enrolled in the study to get TAVR approved for low risk patients. Got all the way up to signing all the paperwork and getting the final CT scan to make sure my arteries were clear enough for the procedure. Unfortunately for the doctor managing the study at the local hospital, the CT scan found a mass on my left kidney.

The cardio-thoracic surgeon was hoping it could be sectioned and I could stay in the study, the the urologist he sent me to determined that with the location of the mass, my kidney had to be removed quickly, but he wanted my heart to be fixed first. At that point I was no longer low risk so I got the TAVR and a month later, they removed my left kidney. The TAVR procedure was the easiest operation I have ever been through.

Oh you are not under full anesthesia for the procedure - you have to be somewhat aware during it. I had been so worried that I only got three hours sleep the night before and fell asleep during - the anesthesiologist was kind of freaked having to wake me up.

I wasn't aware, but my husband said there were nine surgeons in the operating room. Since this was a new procedure, they were training up all their cardio-thoracic surgeons to do it. Plus, as the ads on TV show, hospitals anticipated doing a LOT of these in the future.

What to watch out for - vasovagal syncope and low blood pressure. I had one syncope the day after the TAVR. That delayed my departure from the hospital for a day. Sometimes if the syncopes are more often or severe, they might put in a pacemaker.

Good luck, Terry!